Exodus
by the stargate time traveller
Summary: The Alphans leave Moonbase Alpha for the last time, and they remember.


**I don't own Space 1999, but I wish they'd done a better job of season 2 compared to 1.**

**Exodus.**

John Koenig had never found Alpha so quiet in all the years the moon had been travelling through space. As he walked through the corridors for the final time, seeing the last examples of Operation Exodus, it was like walking through a ghost town.

Once supporting a population of 200 or so many people, Alpha was so quiet that all those sounds Koenig and the others took for granted were gone leaving a silence you could hear. Sounds of the life support system, the power conduits, the sounds of the power systems, and of computer, the sounds of people walking and breathing in the recycled air...All quiet and gone.

As he'd left his quarters Koenig found the silence oppressive, but he wasn't lonely. He knew the Eagle waiting on the landing pad with the last crewmembers waiting to take them to their new home, a home they'd been waiting for since Breakaway, a home to replace the ones they'd had on Earth, he knew the Eagle would not leave without him.

" Commander?"

Koenig turned slightly, smiling at the sight of Sanda Benes walking towards him. She was carrying a box of some of her possessions. " Yes, Sandra?" He asked quietly. Like most of the Alphans Koenig respected Sandra's abilities, something they all had.

" You seemed lost, sir." She cocked her head, the remaining light shining off her short black hair. " Is everything alright?"

Koenig smiled wryly. " Yeah, I'm okay. Really." He added when he caught Sandra's quirked eyebrow.

Sandra smiled. " We should go. I've finished recording the message."

Koenig nodded. He'd ordered Sandra to send a message to Earth, and Maya had worked on developing a way to send it without the message degrading on the long journey home. No one knew for certain if humans still lived on their old world, but they had to hope that one day the human race would venture properly into the universe, hopefully with spaceships and not a lumbering moon.

" How did it go?" He asked as they began walking down the corridors.

Sandra smiled sadly. " It was like saying goodbye to an old friend. Its just so hard to imagine us living on Alpha for four years. So many close calls, so much heartache...How do you put all that in one single message?"

" You don't," Koenig smiled, " you simply remember it."

" I dropped in Professor Bergman and Paul as examples of what we lost."

Koenig sighed. The memory of the kindly and philosophical scientist who'd taken him in and mentored him all those years ago, only to die because of a malfunctioning spacesuit...It hadn't seemed right. They had Maya, a competant scientist, yes, with scientific knowledge centuries ahead of that of Man, but John would've been happier if Victor had known her. He'd often thought of waking up and walking in on them having a fierce but wonderful debate.

Paul Morrow and Sandra had been close, and Koenig had tried to welcome relationships as long as the women didn't become pregnant, but Paul had died a month before Maya had even arrived working on an asteroid, and he'd been caught in the explosion. Alpha had come across a massive asteroid, and Paul had been one of the many who'd been tasked to blow the damn thing apart to reach vital minerals, but there'd been an accident, Alpha had been damaged and Paul had died.

Koenig blamed himself for those deaths, but he had to look at the larger picture.

" They will be missed, and so will we if we don't move." Koenig said.

* * *

Helena's eyes lit up when they saw John as he boarded the eagle, looking around for her, eyes lighting up and the familiar grin of his, kind and firm did wonder flips for her stomach. He sat down next to her as Alan prepared for lift off for the final time. The doctor glanced at Sandra. " She alright?"

" We had a talk in the corridor on the way here," Koenig replied, strapping himself in. It was like riding in an crowded car full of junk. Vital components of Alpha's systems, tools and other essentials from stores were piled into all parts of the eagle. The paraphenalia would be essential on their new home.

" What about?"

" Sandra finished the message, she also dropped in Victor and Paul."

Helena sighed sadly. " I wish we'd gotten here a long time ago with them alive."

" So do I."

Silence fell as the Eagle took off, and the artificial gravity field generated around Alpha collapsed since it no long had a human population, life support already on minimal also collapsed.

Helena took out a book, and started to read. She was trying to give her brain something to do, but she couldn't concentrate on the words. She glanced at John.

" When we get there, to Terra Alpha, what are we gonna do first?" She asked.

John sighed. " When the survey came back, they said they'd found a valley with a river. The valley was close to an extinct volcano, so the soil will be fertile. We'll use the eagles to explore the planet from above, and we'll find other places to settle in the future. But I want to start small." John was silent before he admitted, moving closer to Helena's ear so she alone would hear what he said next. " There's also a cave network nearby. The entire planet was once volcanic, but there's no lava there anymore as far as the survey team is concerned. I want to explore the caverns. We might need to use them in case of a stellar disaster."

Helena hadn't considered the possibility, though she should. Maya's homeworld had exploded, so it was possible this one would. Worse, the survey had been rushed because Alpha would only be in range for seven short days. Following debates, Koenig had decided to chance it. They would see the long term consequences later.

" You want to adapt those caves for living conditions?"

Koenig nodded. " The more precautions we have, the better. We have come too far now, and I will not let my people suffer because of an oversight. It would help if we had faster than light technology, but we don't. Once we've developed on Terra, we'll look into research for space technology again, and hopefully we'll succeed."

On the way, Koenig studied the image of Terra Alpha from the screen of his console. A number of eagles were already making touchdown in the landing zones and making preparations for the colonisation. " It certainly looks good." He remarked. Helena smiled darkly.

" So did Terra Nova, Refa. I only hope this one isn't another disaster."

Koenig nodded. " Yeah."

The Eagle joined the phalanx, and started the descent.

**Authors' note.**

**I'm sorry this is a bit rushed, but I wanted a short summary of colonisation of a new world. I want to write more Space 1999 in the future, and this is just the beginning. **


End file.
